With his hands behind his back, his chin sunk on his chest, he remained, gazing at nothing, his thoughts far away.
Philip found them thoughts of curious interest.

They were concerned with three flags.

Now, the gentleman considered them separately; and Philip saw the emblems painted clearly in colors, fluttering and flattened by the breeze.

Again, the gentleman considered them in various combinations; but always, in whatever order his mind arranged them, of the three his heart spoke always to the same flag, as the heart of a mother reaches toward her firstborn.
Then the thoughts were diverted; and in his mind's eye the old gentleman was watching the launching of a little schooner from a shipyard on the Clyde.

At her main flew one of the three flags--a flag with a red cross on a white ground.